IN JUNE, PENN LAW HOSTED a rousing debate on the
competing interests of protecting national security and maintaining
civil liberties. The forum drew national experts from
the military, federal government, legal academia, and the civil
rights bar.

Penn Law, the U.S. Army War College and the Institute for
Strategic Threat Analysis and Response sponsored the conference,
which occurred as the Supreme Court prepared to consider
cases involving government detention of so-called enemy combatants.
Penn Law Assistant Professor Nathaniel Persily organized
the conference, which drew approximately 200 people.

Among the participants was Frank Dunham, the federal
prosecutor from Virginia who represents terror suspect Zacarias
Moussaoui and Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen captured in
Afghanistan who remains in a military jail. Dunham cautioned
that depriving people such as Hamdi, who is also believed to
hold Saudi citizenship, of civil liberties only fuels Islamic extremism.

On the other hand, Temple Law School Professor Jan Ting
defended U.S. efforts to not only detain terrorism suspects but to
track the whereabouts of visitors from Muslim nations. He said
it is too easy under U.S. immigration laws for terrorists to visit
America, so surveillance is necessary.

Representing Penn Law at the conference were professors
David Rudovsky, Seth Kreimer, and Kim Lane Scheppele. Rudovsky
spoke about civil liberties in light of security threats;
Kreimer discussed first amendment rights; and Scheppele addressed
presidential and judicial power through the lens of
international law.